Ohio Employee Assistance Program · Ohio Employee Assistance Program 2014 Annual Report John R. Kasich, Governor Robert Blair, Director Ohio Department of Administrative Services

Ohio Employee Assistance Program2014 Annual Report

John R. Kasich, GovernorRobert Blair, Director

Ohio Department of Administrative ServicesHuman Resources Division Office of Benefits Administration Services

30 E. Broad St., 27th FloorColumbus, Ohio 43215

2 OEAP 2014 Annual Report

Today the Ohio Employee Assistance Program (OEAP)

is positioned to be a first-choice resource for providing solutions to

State of Ohio employees and their family members on workplace

issues. This means that OEAP is proactively reaching out to agency

partners to assist with workplace interventions and strategies to

improve their organizations. OEAP intends to provide the highest

quality of services to support the health and well-being of employees

and their families, while providing the expertise to enhance the

emotional, behavioral health and overall productivity of employees

in a confidential and professional manner. Our primary focus is to

educate and increase awareness of crucial life-impacting challenges

because we recognize what matters in creating a healthy and

positive work environment.

Table of Contents

Introduction .......................................... 3

Strategic Focus ................................... 4

Major Services ..................................... 5

OEAP Annual Conference ................... 5

Trends in Utilization ............................. 6

Intake by Problem Type ....................... 7

Participation Agreements .................... 8

Trainings .............................................. 9

Closing .............................................10

OEAP 2014 Annual Report 3

Introduction

The Ohio Employee Assistance Program (OEAP) staff is pleased to share with you the 2014 OEAP Annual Report. This report provides insight about the major services available to State of Ohio agencies, employees and their families in addressing per-sonal and job-related needs and challenges. In addition, you will learn about the newly implemented programs.

OEAP professionals are available to provide timely information and assistance on a variety of issues that may be impacting the well-being of employees and their families. Also, the OEAP team supports agency management to ensure a healthier and more productive work environment.

We value your partnership and will continue to serve and support our state agencies/institutions. We hope you find the report helpful as you learn about other program highlights, activities and key initiatives and accomplishments.

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Strategic Goals Outcomes

1. Promote statewide awareness of the OEAP

OEAP partnered with the various benefit plans to provide a more holistic service to employees across the state. (e.g., population health management, disability, behavioral health)

2. Enhance operations and delivery of services OEAP designed and launched the pilot conflict management system with several agencies.

3. Continue refining and expanding OEAP training and education

The OEAP training courses were integrated with the Office of Learning and Professional Development (OLPD). New courses were developed and introduced to all agencies. All OEAP and OPTUM Behavioral Solutions courses were made available through the OLPD Training Catalog.

Strategic Focus

To ensure the OEAP achieved the program goals in 2014, the strategic plan served as the road map to guide the work.

The following chart illustrates the 2014 key initiatives and accomplishments:

New and Enhanced Program Services• OEAP, with the assistance of agency partners, worked diligently to complete the new statewide conflict management system in an effort to address unresolved workplace conflicts and issues. The project began in the fall of 2013 and was

piloted with several agencies from July 2014 to November 2014. Feedback was received from the pilot agencies and incorporated to make final adjustments to the new Employee Workplace Mediation Program.

• In December 2014, OEAP implemented an enhanced Participation Agreement process in an effort to streamline the process for agencies and institutions. All forms were revised and posted on the OEAP website and a statewide webinar was

held to educate users on the process. The Participation Agreement is between an employee and their employing agency. Employees are typically referred to the OEAP Participation Agreement program when experiencing deficiencies in job per-formance and reaching an advanced level of discipline (i.e., suspension or termination). When these situations occur, the employee or an agency human resources or union representative may request that the agency/institution enter into an OEAP Participation Agreement.

More information about the mediation and Participation Agreement programs is available via the OEAP website.

OEAP 2014 Annual Report 5

2014 OEAP Annual Resource Conference

Each year the OEAP holds its annual resource conference. On June 3, approximately 75 participants attended the 2014 OEAP Annual Resource Conference including agency EAP coordinators, union representatives, labor relations and human resources professionals throughout state government.

During the conference, OEAP announced the launch of the Employee Workplace Mediation Program. Dr. Joseph Folger, co-founder and designer of the Transformative Mediation approach was the keynote speaker. He explained the Transformative Mediation approach to conference participants and discussed how the approach has been applied in other organizations.

The Employee Workplace Mediation Pilot Program was launched with five participating agencies: Ohio Department of Commerce, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ohio Department of Administrative Services and Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Several non-pilot agencies also participated. The pilot program concluded on Nov. 28, 2014.

Major Services

Listed below are the major services and programs available to state employees and agencies/institutions:

• Confidential clinical referral and support;• Critical Incident Stress Management;• Intake, monitoring and case follow-up;• Participation Agreements; • Publications: Brochures, Frontline Focus newsletter, OEAP Supervisor Guide;• Organizational transitional services; • Management and employee consultations and interventions;• Training and education sessions; and• Mediation services, including conflict coaching.

Utilization of any OEAP service is confidential and does not jeopardize the participant’s employment.

Closed Participation Agreements, CY2014

Closed Participation Agreements, CY2013

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Trends in Utilization of Services

In 2014, OEAP provided intake and consultation services to 1,682 employees, dependents and agency representatives seeking information, support and referral services. OEAP consultants provided monitoring and case management for 148 participation agreement cases. This included 78 new cases opened during 2014. During 2014, there were 70 participation agreements that closed with 54 closing successfully, representing a 77 percent success rate. The following chart illustrates the closing categories of participation agreements comparing calendar year 2014 to 2013.

OEAP 2014 Annual Report 7

Intake by Problem Type

The charts below illustrate the primary presenting problems identified by state employees and their dependents when seekingservices through OEAP. The majority of calls are from those seeking assistance with personal and emotional concerns. These emotional concerns are characterized by feelings of anxiety, guilt, depression, hopelessness, grief and in extreme cases, suicide.

The “Job” category represents cases seeking assistance with organizational change, transfers, dealing with difficult people, diverse workforce issues, job loss or layoffs and other workforce restructuring.

Family and marital concerns represent another significant reason that people seek assistance through OEAP. Family issuesoften involve child-rearing and child care, blended families, elder care, step or single parenting issues. Marital and relationship concerns are focused on the interpersonal dynamics in relationships and in extreme cases, domestic violence.

The “Other” category involves requests for general information, training activities and/or mediation.

CY2014 Intakeby Problem Type

CY2013 Intakeby Problem Type

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Participation Agreement

During 2014, OEAP serviced 148 open participation agreements from 26 different state agencies.

Workplace issues that involve participation agreements include: violations of the Drug Free Workplace Policy, absenteeism/ tardiness, neglect of duty, abusive behavior, policy and procedural violations and work infractions that have an underlyingsubstance abuse issue.

The charts below illustrate the participation agreement activity by comparison of CY2014 and CY2013.

CY2014 Participation AgreementActivity by Agency

CY2013 Participation AgreementActivity by Agency

OEAP 2014 Annual Report 9

Trainings Critical Indicent Stress Management and Organizational Transitional Services

During 2014, OEAP facilitated 104 trainings events for 3,971 employees, compared to calendar year 2013 when 76 training events were held for 3,043 employees. The charts represent the types of trainings and number of participants receiving training in state agencies/institutions. Please note, the significant increase in the bullying training in 2014 over 2013 was due to an agency specific training that included all managers (conducted 8 - 10 sessions).

CY2014 Training Courses CY2013 Training Courses

CY2014 Training Participants CY2013 Training Participants

*Supervision/Union Total Number of Trainings: 104 *Supervision/Union Total Number of Trainings: 76

*Supervision/Union Total Number of Trainings: 3,971 *Supervision/Union Total Number of Trainings: 3,043

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Closing

Without your support and investment, this program would not be able to service dedicated state employees and agency repre-sentatives.

We encourage you to contact OEAP to explore how we can better serve you in the future.

We sincerely appreciate the OEAP Advisory Committee members, agency EAP coordinators and our other partners for their continuous advocacy and support.

We look forward to another year of service, strengthenedpartnerships and new collaborative opportunities.

The OEAP Team

Critical Incident StressManagement

Organizational TransitionalServices

Total

10 1 11

The following chart show OEAP assisted agencies/institutions with 11 Critical Incident Stress Management andOrganizational Transitional Services.

John R. Kasich, GovernorRobert Blair, Director

Ohio Department of Administrative Services

Human Resources Division Office of Benefits Administration Services

30 E. Broad St., 27th FloorColumbus, Ohio 43215